With Summer in full gear are you having outdoor get-togethers around the BBQ? If you’re on a rooftop in NYC and look around you’re guaranteed to almost always find a rooftop full of friends around a grill, laughing and sharing hot dogs.

I really love Mexican food, I mean look at the recipe index I have for it. So when it comes to hot dogs it might not surprise you that I wanted to try to give them Mexican flare. Imagine one delicious beef frank, covered with shredded cheese, salsa, tomatoes and jalapenos on top, inside a taco shell. My mouth is watering just thinking about this.

The key to this dog is you need some quality beef franks.

Now we’re going to place the hot dog inside a taco shell. It’s one of those ideas where if you tried it already you know the magic, but if you never thought of doing that you might have just had a “AHA” moment. By the way, I’m not magic (I wish). I always buy standing shells which if you love tacos will change your life. No more tacos that will fall over!

Now it’s time to load this hot dog up to make it a taco. You’ll need shredded cheese, lettuce, onions, jalapenos and some real delicious salsa. I always use my favorite salsa recipe here.

Now go ahead and put your hot dogs in your taco shells.

As soon as you’ll put the cheese on the dogs it will melt beautifully. Then go ahead and put the rest of the toppings on.

“This post is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Pollinate Media Group® and Barilla®, but all my opinions are my own. #pmedia #OnePotPasta http://my-disclosur.es/OBsstV”

It’s not often that taking photos of a recipe actually takes longer than how long it took me to make the dish!

We’ve been busy with work lately so when we get home we usually want a quick meal so we can gather in front of the television and watch NBA playoffs (best time of the year, go Cavs, go Net). Pasta is a great quick meal but are you ever so hungry that you can’t even wait for the water to boil? Let me introduce you to Barilla’s Pronto pasta which is one pan, no boil, no drain pasta. I wasn’t sold on it when I first heard about it – I mean seriously, I didn’t have to boil the water? But after multiple recipes, I’m hooked. A great tasting pasta dish with fresh vegetables that actually only takes 10 minutes? Totally sold.

Say hello to No Boil Rotini Pasta With Plenty of Vegetables, it’s my new favorite quick dinner recipe. Fact: We had it for dinner last night! This recipe calls for red peppers, yellow peppers, tomatoes and basil so it’s a fresh harvest meal! I can’t wait until Summer time when I can pick our peppers and tomatoes from our garden and throw them right in this dish. This dish is entirely customizable too, add whatever vegetables you want! It’s a great dish to clean out that refrigerator! Never let a pepper go bad, life motto to live by. :D)

AMAZING tasting Chinese Pepper Beef Cubes – this easy to make Chinese dish is tasty and will have your family begging for it! Serve beef and vegetables over white rice for a healthy authentic Chinese meal!

Do you have a favorite Chinese dish? I’m a big fan of Chinese soups (like salted pork and cabbage), Shrimp Chop Suey and I’m always down for Lo Mein. One thing I always love in my dishes is a ton of vegetables covered in that delicious Chinese sauce they always smoother them in. It doesn’t matter if it’s peppers, broccoli, carrots, water chestnuts or something else, I can’t say no to a yummy vegetable.

Right now being Winter I am craving fresh vegetables. I am missing the green pepper overload from the garden. I can’t wait to pick broccoli in the Spring. Thankfully we still have enough carrots left from Fall so I have those to survive on. Over the weekend it was freezing (literally). The wind was harsh, my knees were shaking and my gloves didn’t feel like they were doing much of anything. One thing I craved when I got home was a warm fresh meal, something that would take me out of the Winter blues. That’s how this Chinese Pepper Beef Cubes dinner was created.

This Vegetable Packed Slow Cooker Chili is packed full of vegetables! It’s the perfect comfort food that your whole family will love! Grab some french fries for dipping!

Have you been watching the news? If you have tuned in during the last 24 hours I’m sure you’ve seen titles like:

WINTER STORM JUNO, a Historical Blizzard
NORTHEAST TO MEET A GOLIATH
NYC to get 24 to 36 inches of snow, NYC to shut down, NYC ready to rumble with Juno
Blizzard Warning In Effect!
BREAD SOLD OUT, Incoming Blizzard!

I love snow. I know not everyone likes it. After all, you have to shovel, you might get cold, or the horrors you might run out of chocolate chips (blizzard advise 1: stock up on chocolate). I’ve always lived in the Northeast so snowstorms have been a part of every Winter for me. Does anyone else remember the Winter of 1993? Me too, I loved it. Since I was a kid there’s always been something magical and exciting about a expecting snowstorm. While I was in school there was the anticipation of school closing. If it was bad the night before, you’d turn on your local tv channel and scroll through the listings until they got to your school to see if it was closed (worst was you tuned into the channel and they were at the R schools when your school was a P, you’d have to wait a bit). Maybe it snowed during the night, in that case you’d jump out of bed and do the same thing in the morning. When you saw your school scroll across the screen with the words “CLOSED”. You shouted “Yeah!”. The rest of the day was filled with sledding, your dad making you throw rock salt out, going sledding more, coming inside and your mom seeing your bright red skin and making you a hot chocolate, and then more sledding On my hilly street the snow didn’t really go anywhere, so in big storms it stuck around for weeks, even months. As a 31 year old, I’m still just as excited. I love the anticipation of the storm (how many inches? how many feet? is it going to hit us?). I love seeing the first flakes fall down followed by sitting near the window for hours watching NYC become a winter wonderland. I love seeing kids sled on sidewalks. I love throwing on cozy socks, flannel pajamas and drinking a hot cup of tea.

So what I’m saying is, I love you Juno. I’m writing this post on Monday night, so I’m giddy with curiosity. Some forecasts are saying 12 inches, some are calling for 24 inches, some are saying 3 feet. I say bring it on. You beautiful white beast with snow falling and blowing. Let it snow!

There’s one thing I think we can all agree on (as a snow lover or snow hater); comfort food is a must on snowy nights. Let me introduce you to this Vegetable Packed Slow Cooker Chili. This chili is a game winner. Curl up to it with inches of snow on the ground. Curl up to it at a tailgating party. Curl up to it during the big game this weekend. What’s the perfect companion to a big bowl of chili besides a big spoon? French Fries!

Have you ever dipped a fry in chili? It’s pretty magical. Your first chili dipping experience with be remembered forever. At parties, you often see the typical canned chip dips, but how awesome are you when you bring a big pot of chili to dip your fries in? Do you know who wins the big game? You!

This is a vegetable chili which means it’s great for a meatless Monday meal. It also guarantees to make all your veggie friends happy. It’s also going to leave you happy because it’s so darn full of vegetables. I eat meat, but sometimes I need a break. Chili is typically associated with meat, but honestly in this vegetable chili you won’t even miss the meat. This chili is vegetable packed! You’ll get tackled by carrots, corn and beans! You’ve been carrot sacked!

So when you’re ready to win the hearts of your family and friends during the next sports game party or during a snowstorm, make this Vegetable Packed Slow Cooker Chili with french fries! Go Team Snowstorm! Go You!

Vegetable Packed Slow Cooker Chili

2015-01-26 23:52:13

This Vegetable Packed Slow Cooker Chili is packed full of vegetables! It's the perfect comfort food that your whole family will love! Grab some french fries for dipping!

CHEESY Taco Casserole is EASY to make. This simple baked casserole recipe is made with elbow noodles, tomato soup, ground beef and lots of cheddar cheese! This is a yummy dinner that everyone will love – especially the kids!

Some people like to say “Taco Tuesday” but I like to say “Tacos Everyday!”.

Tacos are one of my favorite meals, I can basically eat them every night and never get sick of them. The thing I love about tacos is you can have them so many ways. Maybe you’re in a burrito mood, maybe you’re in a hard shell mood, maybe you’re in a salad moon, maybe you’re in a soup mood, maybe you’re in a pepper steak mood, or maybe you want a casserole. In the case of the casserole, I got you covered.

Say hello to your new favorite dinner, Cheesy Taco Casserole!

This is a good ol comfort meal, perfect after a hard day of work. In the Winter time, this really warms up my bones in all the right spots. It has plenty of fresh vegetables (green pepper, tomatoes, jalapeno peppers), along with tomato soup that is going to hold those noodles together and soak up the good stuff. And that extra cheesy layer on top? Yup, you will fall in love with it.

Fresh Pasta Salad recipe that tastes just like Summer! Recipe ingredients include cherry tomatoes, radishes, green pepper, lettuce and mushrooms! This is perfect for a healthy dinner or picnic lunch.

Guys, it’s August 21st. We’re in the 20’s already! Soon it will be September! September…already? Don’t get me wrong you know I love Fall, Halloween and everything that comes along with it but there will be a few memories I miss from Summer. It’s not over yet, but that doesn’t mean I can’t be dramatic and romantic about the sweltering garden days of picking tomatoes, weeding out the boxes and nurturing seedlings to grow big and strong.

A basket full of harvest is one of the proudest things I could carry. Seeing the fresh colors of red, green, yellow and more topple over the basket makes me a happy girl. Although we’re picking tomatoes, lettuce, radishes and melons as the Summer continues, we’re also getting ready for the Fall garden. Some plants have already been transplanted while others wait their turn downstairs for containers to be cleared away on the roof. There seems to never be a empty day in the garden, there’s always something that needs to be transitioned and moved in or out.

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone.

I work from a mixture of at home and a mixture of our shared work space. The work space is only about a 10 minute walk away which is great because it’s close enough that you can get home quickly if a storm is coming but yet it’s far enough from the cats to actually get work done. It’s so hard to get work done when you have 4 pretty kitties crawling all over you! Meow! In the last few weeks I have been spending most days at our work space but there’s been one thing bugging me about it – lunch! If you’re a person who loves to cook (you probably do, you’re here!) then you probably hate buying take out. We have been getting sandwiches almost every single day from this place across the street from our space but that is easily $10-$20 a day! I love saving money so I have been exploring some new apps on my phone to clip lunch time savings!

First of all, do you have World Cup fever? I get so darn excited every 4 years. If you’re from America, did you watch the USA vs Portugal game yesterday? Did you scream, yell, cheer, cry, then become confused why you are crying because after all tying Portugal 2-2 is actually ok? Yeah, me too. The game had so many ups and downs and the last 30 seconds.. oh man. I can’t even talk about it! Let’s get psyched for USA vs Germany on Thursday though! Here in NYC they have been showing all the World Cup games on a big screen under the Manhattan Bridge in DUMBO (part of Brooklyn). Being a Sunday evening, the game was packed with USA USA USA chanting fans. We went and it ended up being such a blast. Large groups of people cheering with positivity and little negativity (basically only when Ronaldo is on the screen) is always a good time.

FAST and EASY Salsa made with Canned Diced Tomatoes! Just add green peppers and onions to this simple recipe and you’ll have a delicious chunky salsa ready to serve in minutes! This Canned Diced Tomato Salsa tastes just like the salsa at your favorite Mexican restaurant!

It happens to us all. We’re out of fresh tomatoes and we need salsa. Maybe we need salsa for a get together. Maybe we need it for a recipe. Maybe we’re just craving it with some chips. I’m here to help save the day by letting you know that you can totally make great tasting salsa with canned tomatoes! Let’s check out this easy cooking recipe that you’re going to love!

This salsa is delicious and can fight with the best of them in terms of a salsa battle. So grab a bag of tortilla chips and meet me in the kitchen for some Canned Diced Tomato Salsa!

You might be surprised by how fresh this salsa tastes. When I made it I kept getting compliments and questions about if all the ingredients were homegrown. Alongside the diced tomatoes this recipe calls for fresh green peppers and onions so there’s a great fresh crunch that happens when you take a bite!

Doesn’t a big bowl of pasta just fill you up with happiness for dinner? How about we add a touch of spice with some crushed tomatoes? Magic, right?

That’s how I feel about this recipe, it’s absolutely magical. I think most times when we think of tomato sauce it doesn’t have that kick to it, but this Spicy Italian Crushed Tomato Sauce definitely has some spice. It’s not overly spicy, but there’s enough that gives it a extra zip zap taste. Also, can we talk about the aroma that that this sauce has? It’s delicious. If you give this sauce a shot, just watch your kitchen start to fill up with people asking when dinner is ready. Tell them them a few more minutes and kick them out of your kitchen. Then take a few big spoonfuls of this sauce first.

Speaking of tomatoes… our tomatoes have adjusted from their transplanting period and are now firm in their containers. I love seeing them start to add a few inches of height and turn a nice green color. Expect a big garden update post at the end of this week! The other fresh star of this recipe is the basil. I was able to throw in a big bunch of basil chopped up in this sauce and it was a perfect fit (not to mention the smell was amazing!). Don’t you just love fresh basil? Mmmm!

You can totally use whatever pasta you want to use. This was one of those nights where I threw a bunch of quarter filled boxes together for a pasta mix!

Do you love Chop Suey in the can? I’m totally guilty of loving it. I’m also totally guilty of eating that sauce by the spoonful. Goodness, it’s delicious.

If you love it you can probably agree that it’s not the most healthy for you. Low in calories, sure, but not exactly the best homemade ingredients that a dinner can offer you, so I set out to make a homemade version of La Choy’s Chop Suey.

How many times do we have pizza a month? Don’t ask. We are pizza monsters. Favorite food? It’s hard to choose, it’s like telling me to pick a favorite cat (all of them!). But pizza is definitely up there in the number ones. How much do we love pizza? Well we made a video once about pizza, it even included a dancing pizza costume and playing baseball with some slices of pizza and a handle to hit them out of the park. It was part of a installation piece where you could walk up to a screen and feed friends pizza with a press of a pizza button.

Last year we had a solo art show in London, it was about dinosaurs (another love that we’ll talk about some other time) and at our opening we had a pizza truck. Does life get any better than that – going to London, having your own show you made with your best friend about dinosaurs and then having a pizza truck whipping out pizzas all night long? Life goal: Accomplished.

So yeah, we really love pizza and now you know a little more about my life outside of Brooklyn Farm Girl. Dinosaurs and pizza.

Sometimes we’re craving pizza but we don’t want to spend the money on takeout and we don’t feel like making homemade dough. Problem solved, let me introduce you to Mini Biscuit Pizzas.

These Mini Pizzas are great because they take 12 minutes in the oven. That means you can have yummy pizza to eat in about 15 minutes because there’s not much more to do then to dice up some green peppers and mushrooms. In the recipe I suggest pepperoni, green peppers and mushrooms but feel free to make these pizzas your own, top them with whatever you like. Speaking of – what’s your favorite pizza topping?

Growing corn in a box on a rooftop in New York City is pretty cool. When we start to spot the ears of corn and I can start to shake the plants to help pollinate I get very excited. As you probably can guess, I do a corn dance. It looks the same as my broccoli and pumpkin dance. I pretty much have the same garden dance move for all our plants, I put my hands out to my side and do a 60s Twist move. But I do it fast because that’s how I roll, quick and smooth. One day I might post the dance on here but I’m not sure if you are ready for that yet.

Lately I’ve been craving vegetables for dinner. Lots and lots of vegetables and nothing else. My other half loves a good meat for dinner but I have been persuading him to try a happy veggie meal once a week, and I’m hoping we can get that up to 2 nights a week soon. If I served this Mexican Corn Salad more than once a week I know I could because we love this dish. It’s full of fresh corn kernels cut right off the cob, black beans, diced tomatoes, bell peppers and my favorite: hominy. To spice it up we add in cumin, cilantro and lime juice. Just thinking about this salad makes me want to cancel dinner plans for tonight and cut up some corn.

Speaking of corn, isn’t it just beautiful?

Even the husks are pretty.

And when the salad comes together you are going to be in love too. The best thing about this salad is that it takes 5 minutes to make- amazing, right? The only thing that is cooked is the corn and that is only for 3 minutes.

So if you’re craving a delicious dinner full of vegetables and you want it made within minutes, look no further. Enjoy!

We have a new favorite dinner that we’ve been making almost bi-weekly now, it’s Easy Cheesy Lasagna Skillet. Lasagna is hands down one of our favorite dinners, but sometimes you just don’t have the time to organize the layers and bake in the oven, this skillet is quick, cheesy and oh goodness is it delicious. What makes this lasagna extra special? Well besides the ricotta cheese which makes everything creamy, there’s Sweet Italian Sausage which I’m pretty much in love with at the moment. After I brown the sausage there’s a good 3 minute period where I just stand by the stove and eat it out of the pan.

Added into the lasagna is garden fresh spaghetti sauce, fresh basil, green peppers and some mushrooms. In my opinion life is better when there is mushrooms and green peppers involved. Lately, we’ve been putting them on our pizza too – what a great combo.

So next time you are craving lasagna but don’t want to wait or do the extra work, throw all these ingredients in a skillet and you’ll have the creamiest dinner in all the land! This is definitely a keeper. Bonus: Leftovers are delicious!

Don’t you love Milkshake by Kelis? It’s a classic song. This is the first thing that came to my mind while writing this post and this post has nothing to do with mikshakes. As soon as I started this post I immediately looked up song meanings for “Milkshake” and this user’s interpretation made me laugh:

“my whipped ice dairy drink brings the attention of many males to my place of residence and/or employment and they declare that its quality far surpasses that of yours. absolutely it far surpasses yours i could convey to you the recipe but i would have to demands compensation”

It’s perfect.

This post is about Spareribs, and they’re BBQ and Slow cooked. They are moist, the meat will fall off the bone, they will leave you licking your lips and your fingers. These Spareribs are starting to sound sexy. But they really are. Super sexy Spareribs. You cook them for 8 hours, slathered in bbq sauce and brown sugar. When they are ready to eat them they’re juicy and saucy. My goodness, is it getting hot in here?

So what I’m saying is you should make these BBQ Spareribs and have a romantic dinner. Just you and the BBQ spareribs. Ok and your family too if you must. Enjoy!

Here are the steps to make thee Spareribs, it really doesn’t get much easier than this. First layer is the pepper, garlic and onion. Second layer is the Spareribs with salt and pepper. Third layer is pouring the BBQ sauce on top. Finally, add the brown sugar. Then you just wait and let the slow cooking smells start to take over your house…

And believe me it will start to smell wonderful, curious noses will appear.

When I serve the Spareribs, I love to take a little bit of the pepper/onion/garlic mixture and put it on top.

Nice people deserve credit for being nice. A little goes a long way in today’s world. I would like to think these few people who made me smile the last few days:

The man who shouted “Nice Cat” to me when I was wearing a cat sweatshirt walking down the street.
The cashier who wanted to have a conversation about Halloween with me.
The person who held the door for me at the grocery store.
The person who held the elevator for me.
My doctor who just made me feel good with his professionalism and encouragement.
The person who said they liked our garden on the roof.
To the stationery store owner who gave me my pen for 20 cents cheaper because I accidentally gave him pense instead of cents. He gave me back the 20 pence and said “Don’t worry about it”. Reminder to self: Clean out your change purse!
To the person who said “Thank you” when I held the door for them.
To my swapping and pen-pal friends, you always put a smile on my face.
To my cats who always know I need some love and affection.
The girl who said she liked my dress on the street.
To my mail delivery lady who is just really nice.
To every single person who comments on Brooklyn Farm Girl. You make me smile and laugh hysterically. I want to serve you all tea and pumpkin donuts and tell you how great you are!

A smile, a compliment, a door held open, a thank you, a postcard that just says hi – these all are special to me and can change my mood almost immediately. I’m big on common courtesy so it really does make my day. Can you think of a recent time that a little niceness picked up your spirits?

Now on to the yum…..

I really like tacos and I really like casseroles so when I’m able to put them together it’s like sweet magic recipe worlds combined.

CREAMY and HEALTHY Sweet Pepper Soup! Delicious sweet peppers are combined with chicken broth and rice to make it a dinner time favorite! This gluten-free recipe is easy to make and can easily be turned vegetarian by using vegetable broth. This is the perfect soup for using a overabundance of peppers from the garden or farmers market! Make sure to serve with some crusty Italian bread!

I was craving fresh soup a few nights ago so this Sweet Pepper Soup was born~ I was going to make my typical stuffed pepper soup but I wanted something more creamy. This soup tastes fantastic with fresh (and oh so pretty!) sweet peppers. We are also using 1 jalapeno pepper in this soup to give it a itty bitty kick. To give the soup a little more bite, we throw some rice in at the very end. This soup is delicious, definitely a year round favorite!

It’s the perfect soup to use up a overabundance of garden peppers up in! It also freezes amazing so you you could make a few batches of it if you want to save some for the Winter too! Even though this soup calls for sweet peppers, if you want to do a mixture of sweet and bell peppers that will taste delicious too! I often do it in the Summer with our garden peppers.

This soup is filling and best served warm. I love adding croutons or crusty Italian bread to the soup!

Hope you enjoy one of my favorite pepper meals!

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Creamy and Healthy Sweet Pepper Soup

CREAMY and HEALTHY Sweet Pepper Soup! Delicious sweet peppers are combined with chicken broth and rice to make it a dinner time favorite! This gluten-free recipe is easy to make and can easily be turned vegetarian by using vegetable broth. This is the perfect soup for using a overabundance of peppers from the garden or farmers market! Make sure to serve with some crusty Italian bread!

Ingredients

3tablespoonsolive oil

1.5poundssweet peppers - chopped

1jalapeno pepperseeds removed - minced

3tablespoonsfresh thyme

4clovesgarlic - minced

6cupschicken brothor vegetable broth

1/4teaspoonred pepper flakes

2cupscooked white rice

Instructions

Pour olive oil in pot on medium-high heat.

Add sweet and jalapeno peppers and saute for 10 minutes until they soften up, continue stirring during this time.

French Fries, I have a real big crush on you. I love you straight. I love you crinkled. I love you curly. I love you covered in cheese. And chili. And beans.

Are you like me and stock up on certain items but don’t notice until you open your freezer and multiple bags of frozen french fries are staring at you? I’m that way for a few things. When Goya is on sale I think I need 8 cans of hominy or pinto beans (just in case). Pasta, yes, let’s buy 10 boxes. Ketchup, well maybe I will have a cookout, better buy a few bottles. That 20 pound bag of rice is super cheap, what a deal, better buy it. Whenever French Fries are on sale, usually 2 bags for $5, I fall in that category.

A few nights ago I was going through the process of “What to make for dinner”. There were a few rules:
-I wanted french fries.
-I wanted to use up heavy creamy which was close to it’s end date.
-I needed to use some type of garden vegetable.
-I wanted to prepare it quickly. This means frozen french fries.
-I wanted it to be delicious.

So French Fry Casserole was born!

When I took this out of the oven, I pulled back the foil and I wish I had a video to document Matthew’s reaction. It was pure innocent excitement for this casserole. If you like cheese fries (where my cheese fry fans at? holla at me) then you’re going to love this casserole because it’s basically glorified chili cheese fries that we can call dinner and everyone will be ok with it because we added the word casserole to the end. The chili comes from chili beans which I could eat out of the can with a spoon. On top is also a green pepper chopped up, this gives the casserole a great crunch and it just makes me happy to use anything we grow in the garden with french fries.

We ate this casserole as a main dish and it was extra filling. There is no meat in this, but you could add chicken, ground beef, or bacon bits to the top if you choose to.

I am loving this soup. I am loving this weather. I am loving this soup in this weather.

Reasons why I love this White Bean and Kale Pesto Soup:
It’s quick.
It’s easy.
It has white white beans which I love.
It has kale pesto which I love, but you can use any type of pesto.
It uses roasted peppers which I’m officially in love with and can’t stop thinking about.
It’s perfect on a chilly night.
It’s healthy!
It will make you happy!

I was a bit worried how this soup would turn out, it was a new soup adventure but I was so happy with the results. There were leftovers I kept warm for Matthew to eat after he came home later and he kept exclaiming how great this soup was as usually if there is no meat involved it’s not always a favorite, but this was a homerun out of the soup ballpark.

Preheat your oven to 375 and wash 3-4 medium size bell peppers (any color you want). Leave the stems on. Place the peppers on a aluminum foil covered cookie sheet. Place the sheet in the oven. Every 20 minutes turn the peppers using the stems you left on until 1 hour is up. At this time you should see that all your pepper skins have wrinkled and turned blackish. Take peppers out and cool them for 20 minutes so you can touch them. Once cool peel the peppers so the skin comes off easily. Make sure all seeds are removed from the peppers and disregard them. You should have now have slippery beautiful peppers. Cut them up into small pieces to have 3/4 cup for this recipe.

Directions

Pour your chicken stock into a pot at medium-high heat.

Add beans and bring to a boil.

Once boiling, reduce to a simmer and add your pesto, roasted peppers and pinch of black pepper. Simmer for 5 more minutes.

We LOVE this Crockpot Mexican Pumpkin Chili recipe. This easy slow cooker dinner is filled with vegetables and Mexican spices such as green chiles, salsa verde and cumin! You can freeze leftovers!

Now I know what you might be thinking.. usually “Mexican” and “Pumpkin” don’t usually go together, but in this recipe they are best friends. They are holding hands, whispering secrets (not about you), planning adventures – they are great pals. In this recipe we have the usual Chili ingredients, but then we’re throwing in pumpkin because whenever you can you should throw pumpkin into any dish. Here’s the great thing about pumpkin, it’s full of great nutrients but hardly changes the taste of meals. It’s an amazing way to make your dinner or brownies more healthy and better for you. Who doesn’t want that?

Health facts on pumpkin:It’s full of fiber. Half a cup has 3.5 grams of fiber. It’s loaded with Vitamin A, alpha and beta-carotenes and is a good source of vitamins C, K, and E.1 cup of pumpkin puree supplies 3.4 grams of iron which will support a strong immune system and keep you from getting sick. Pumpkin’s orange color is a clue to its high antioxidant content. Some doctors say that the compounds in pumpkin can help prevent lung cancer, heart disease as well as Type 2 diabetes and arthritis.It will help support healthy digestion.One cup of pumpkin puree contains just 83 calories. Compare that to the oils you might use instead!

So what makes this Chili Mexican? Well we’re going to spice it up with green chiles, salsa verde, cumin and we’re going to throw corn into this! If you want you can even throw avocado on top when it’s done!

Other bonuses: Chili freezes amazing, so feel free to make this in advance and keep for that chilly night when your’e feeling lazy and just want to curl under the blankets with your softest socks on!

I love beans so I had to add both black beans and kidney beans. Also I love using ground turkey for chili as a healthy alternative to ground beef.

Once you take the first bite, you’ll be one happy pumpkin loving friend!

Enjoy this Crockpot Mexican Pumpkin Chili!

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Crockpot Mexican Pumpkin Chili

We LOVE this Crockpot Mexican Pumpkin Chili recipe. This easy slow cooker dinner is filled with vegetables and Mexican spices such as green chiles, salsa verde and cumin! You can freeze leftovers!

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